Sermons by Michael Howell (Page 22)
Michael Howell
An ordinary servant
Under King Ahab, Israel had reached a spiritual low point, having turned their backs on the living God to worship the pagan god, Baal. Into this context comes an ordinary man, Elijah. What God does through Elijah over the following years is extraordinary. However, before God uses him, he needs to prepare Elijah for what lies before him. Listen as we are introduced to Elijah, God’s ordinary servant. Let us consider how God might prepare us to serve him in a world that has turned its back on the living God.
Who do we sing for?
The church sings for God. We are expressing our “vertical” relationship with God when we declare His praise and our love for Him. We do all of this for His glory. But our public singing also has a public effect, that is, there are “horizontal” relationships being expressed during our gathered worship. Listen as we consider the public effects our public worship can have.
Head, hands and… heart?
Listen as we consider the role that music and singing play in engaging our minds, our hearts and our bodies as we worship God together.
Forgiven much
Baptism Service: Public displays of affection are not all that common in Australia. We tend to keep our affections for others relatively private. But in baptism, the Christian stands up in public to declare their love for Jesus and their desire to live their life for him.
What would lead someone to declare their love for Jesus in such a public way? The Bible answers that question for us. Listen to a story about a woman who came to Jesus and unashamedly displayed her love for Him.
Singing with Christ
One of the great truths of the Christian faith is that we have been united with Christ. Listen as we consider how this truth shapes the way that we sing as the church.
Continuous worship
Listen as we consider what it means for us to worship God with all our lives and what place singing has in our broader life of worship.
Divine discipline
How do you respond to hardships in your life? Listen as we consider the exhortations of the writer to the Hebrews, as he urges his readers to remember the encouraging word of God and the good purposes of God, even when we face hard times. And then, let us resolve to press on.
The fool says…
Psalm 14 is a song for the people of God. It helps us understand how we should feel when we see a world which has turned its back on God.
Playing our part
Sometimes we might be tempted to wonder whether we’re really much use to God. Does he really want to use us achieve his purposes? He does! These last verses in Colossians remind us of the ways in which God delights to use us.
An extraordinary task
Though we are just ordinary Christians, God has given us the extraordinary task of making sure that outsiders hear about Jesus. In this passage, Paul reminds the Colossians of what it is that they must do in order for this to happen. What a great privilege and responsibility we have!
Living the new life
Paul has reminded the Colossians that the Christian has died to the old life and been given a new life in Christ. Now he shows them what it looks like to live out their new life. Join us as we think about what it means for us to take off the old life with its practices and to put on the new life. Each of us must ask ourselves this question: How does the fact that I have a new life in Christ affect the way that I live?
Rejoice with me!
Baptism is one of the great symbols of the Christian faith, representing both the reality of sins forgiven, and the fact that a Christian has died to the old life of sin and been raised to new life with Christ. And our rejoicing tonight, as we witness several baptisms, is also a symbol which represents the fact that God himself rejoices with his angels when sinners repent. What a great privilege it is to rejoice together as we consider the good work God has done in these young people!